Garage Door Materials 101

Take our professional advice to help you make the right choice.

From steel to glass, vinyl, wood, and fiberglass, there are many garage door materials that are available for you to choose from when purchasing a new Wayne Dalton garage door. But, which is the best material for you and your home? Our NationServe teams take the guesswork out of selecting the right garage door material and will help you understand the differences between these materials so that you can make an informed decision on your new garage door purchase.

Wood Garage Doors: the Natural Choice

Like hardwood floors and luxurious wood cabinetry, wood garage doors add elegance to your home that never goes out of style. However, the same organic quality that makes wood so beautiful can also make it vulnerable. Wood garage doors can be made of many kinds of wood, such as hemlock, redwood, fir, and cedar. Whichever kind of wood you choose, it will need a protective finish, applied either at the factory or onsite, to safeguard it from water and sun damage. If you’re trying to match the existing stain on the wood on your home’s exterior, hemlock is likely to give you the closest match when it’s stained.

Wood garage doors are beautiful, but they often have a low R-value meaning that they are not the best insulator among garage door materials. If you’re looking at wood garage doors for your Spokane Valley craftsman home or if you’re replacing carriage house style garage doors in Charlotte, North Carolina, take a minute to think about how you use your garage. If your garage is just for parking your car, a wood garage door will give you the look and functionality you want. However, if you work or play in your garage, or store temperature-sensitive items in your garage, you’ll be better off choosing a fiberglass garage door that has the look of wood but offers more insulation.

Although modern wood garage doors are manufactured and finished to resist splitting and rot, it’s still a good idea to choose the wood carefully. Sunny, hot, or dry climates or high humidity and heavy rain can be hard on some kinds of wood and can break down wood finishes. If you’re looking for wooden garage doors in Albuquerque, go for a cedar door that can stand up to the heat; on the other hand, you might want to look at redwood garage doors for Houston’s more humid climate.

NationServe offers you a wide selection of wood garage doors made from a variety of fine woods and available in many styles, colors, and price points. Our wood garage doors can also be customized with a variety of hardware, panel styles, and window options to complement your home’s unique style and your family’s specific needs.

Steel Garage Doors: Practical and Popular

Steel is the most popular material for garage doors. Affordable and low-maintenance, steel garage doors can also be customized in a variety of colors, configurations, and finishes (even one that mimics the appearance of wood!). Add window panels to bring natural light into your garage and give a more unique appearance to your garage door.

Although steel in itself is not an insulator, your steel garage door is actually made of layers of galvanized steel and insulation can be added between the layers. A well-insulated steel garage door can make a garage workshop or gym more comfortable, reduce street noise, and potentially lower your energy bills. NationServe’s selection of steel garage doors have insulation values from R7 to R17 and even higher.

Glass Garage Doors: For the Style-Conscious

Looking for garage doors in Spokane Valley that can maximize your view of the Selkirk Mountains on the horizon? If your garage is an extension of your living space or home office, you’ll find our glass and rustproof aluminum garage doors can help you take advantage of scenic views and natural light and make a strong contemporary design statement as well.

The glass panels in your garage door can be frosted or tinted for privacy or made of tempered safety glass or acrylic for greater security. You can also alternate glass panels with solid, opaque panels to balance your needs for security and natural lighting.

Vinyl Garage Doors: Budget Doors that Don’t Look It

Vinyl garage doors are popular among NationServe customers looking for garage doors in Houston and other coastal communities. They’re perfect for beachfront properties, combining a maintenance-free finish with resistance to corrosion from salt, sand, and wind.

Durable vinyl garage doors won’t fade from UV exposure, and they are rustproof and dent-resistant as well. Vinyl garage doors also provide a surprising level of insulation from outdoor temperatures with R-values ranging from R10 to R13.

NationServe offers vinyl garage doors in a variety of colors and styles, and these doors are even available with a finish that looks like wood. Since vinyl garage doors preserve their like-new appearance for years, they are a great, cost-effective investment for your home. Browse NationServe’s gallery and you’ll see how vinyl garage doors can complement the look of classic home exteriors!

Fiberglass Garage Doors: Bang for Your Buck

For the homeowner who wants the best of everything—the look of wood, the thermal efficiency of an insulated steel door, the resistance to rust and corrosion of a vinyl door—there are fiberglass garage doors. Made by bonding a steel frame to two layers of fiberglass sandwiching polyurethane insulation, these sturdy doors are best suited for hot climates where their insulating properties help keep interiors cool and comfortable.

Maintenance-free fiberglass garage doors can be customized for the color, style, and configuration to complement the exterior of your home. NationServe offers you a va

riety of colors and styles in fiberglass garage doors that can be customized with hardware and glass to give you a distinctive garage door.

How to Know Which Garage Door Material is Right for You

Get in touch with NationServe to learn more about the materials available for your garage doors. Homeowners in Albuquerque, Houston, Spokane Valley, Charlotte, and other cities near our 18 locations throughout the United States can trust our garage door experts to match them with the right material for their new door.

Typically, a well-insulated steel garage door is also made of a thick, high gauge steel. These thicker, insulated steel garage doors have an added benefit because they are more resistant to the dents that often mark older and thinner steel garage doors. You’ll find a thicker steel insulated door will look better in the long run than a thinner, budget-priced door, especially if the neighborhood kids play street hockey or basketball in your driveway or if you live in an area that’s prone to storms.

You can keep your steel garage door looking good by washing it clean of dirt and debris.. Properly primed and painted, a steel door should resist rust.